Discovering the Other New York

The Great American Melting Pot …..that vast urban “no mans land” of NYC that makes up the border line of the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. I don’t think anyone can accurately list all the nationalities there ……Greenpoint, Long Island City, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, Cypress Hills, Ozone Park, Glendale, East New York, Howard Beach ….and my destination, the next to be gentrified ….Bushwick, Brooklyn!! Forest Park …Myrtle Ave …Cooper Ave through the myriad of cemeteries that was part of the “Heights of Guan” in the Battle of Long Island …… to Evergreen Ave, Bushwick. As my normal riding route to Brooklyn is through the waterfront, today, I decided to enter South Brooklyn through mid Queens. A more complex route with less bike lanes. Bushwick looks “ripe to go”. The staunch African American, Hispanic area has white millennials skateboarding down it’s streets and young corporate types carrying baby car seats into dingy brownstones and row houses. However the clincher for me, riding down Evergreen, was an Organic Gourmet Deli directly across the street from a “graffiti scared” Spanish Bodega. With most of Williamsburg gone and Crown Heights, Bed Stuy and East New York under assault Bushwick and Brownsville should complete the borough wide gentrification process. Good or Bad? You decide.